It is one of the highlights of a visit to the Calgary Zoo: a chance to see the zoo’s king penguins waddle their way along the zoo pathways outside the Penguin Plunge.
On Wednesday morning, the first penguin walk of 2026 took place, with more than a dozen penguins dressed in their finest attire for the event.
“Penguins in the wild, they walk really long distances all the time. So this is a great way for us to kind of get them out, get them moving and get them doing something that’s really, really natural for them,” said Patrick Thompson, an animal care manager at the Calgary Zoo.
“They’re always super interested in doing it. They’re always waiting for us, waiting by the door. They know when the penguin walk is. They know, when we start getting to this time of year, when we come in in the morning, they’re lined up at the gate ready to go outside.”
This is the 14th year of the penguin walk. They range in age from two to 27 years old and they must voluntarily join the walk.
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“We have a few birds here that have done all 14 years, so they know the drill, they know to walk and every walk’s a little bit different. There’s always new things, planes going overhead, reflections off somebody’s watch, but for the most part, the king penguins are pretty reliable and we kind of know what they’re going to do and they enjoy their walk,” Thompson said.
“The walk has changed a little bit over the years. The route has changed. We’ve learned a little bit about what the birds prefer, so we’ve kind of tailored the route of the walk, the timing of the walk all around, kind of making sure that we’re walking as regularly as possible because it’s really good for the birds and that the birds are as comfortable as possible as well.”
The penguins normally go for their morning waddle on Saturdays at 10:30 a.m., but it also depends on the weather. The temperature needs to be between 5 C and -25 C and they don’t walk when winds are more than 20 kilometres per.
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